I have been into steve roach since 2005, 11 years, I was very disappointed in both cds. I fail to grasp it's essence. I do not like the sound of steve roach, I have noticed every since Dynamic stillness his ambient soundscapes have am more "dark character" more "dark rumble" for me personally I wish he did cut of a lot of this darker bass energies and focus on the higher and lighter sounds. The "bass" frequency acts more as an distracting element. I think Oophoi made some kind of statement of it, regarding dark ambient artists.. about this dark "bass rumble" that is just for me the bass in ambient is just an energy has no real interesting sound detail...I am just seeing on my spectrum analyzer that steves latest phase albums have cut of the high end quite a lot while the bass frequencies are now more dominant , it just make it sound more muddy and less sound details.

I am convinced that he is using different equipment nowdays then before which explain why he sound different now, most likely a new mixing board, a new studio, I do not see a progress in steves music since 2008, to me it has gradually gone worse..anyway.. I am always interested when he release a new cd you never know when he will release a masterpiece again. But considering his last albums the last cople of years have more or less sounded the same I hope he will experiment with different gear and reverbs. His reverb had a lot more "open" and wet sound before while now the high end is cut of heavily and his reverb sound a lot more "dry". The big change in his sound after 2008, with his album dynamic stillness.

I think if just some of his later albums released after 2008 was just remastered or remixed with a more open reverb sound no HP/LP filters (most importantly no low pass). I have just experimented with just adding EQ which make big improvement when making the mix more brighter with more higher frequencies .

So to summarize I am not a big fan of Steve roach later phase album after 2008 which a lot more darker and more dry sound character with a bigger focus on the darker and lower parts of the sound spectrum and "bass rumble"

I love these two new CDs. They are the sonic equivalents of chocolate cupcakes. Yum.

I wish I could share the same experience a joy as you...I can recommend this album, especially cd2.. this music touches on an emotional level.Also have better sonic quality then roach last phase of outputs.